Alabama company's FastCommand service helps handle Web traffic

View full sizeThe Birmingham NewsKevin Foote is a founder of FastCommand, a system that is meant to divert loads of traffic from organizations' websites and keep them from crashing at critical moments.

An Alabama company's software has been used in many disaster situations.

FastCommand's system was used by the Arizona hospital where U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was treated after being wounded in a mass shooting last year. It was used to inform residents near the Gulf of Mexico of developments after the BP oil spill in 2010. Last spring, it was used by several institutions when deadly tornadoes swept through the Southeast.

Now, FastCommand's founder hopes to win over government agencies as clients to spur further growth.

The product, a service of FastHealth Corp. in Tuscaloosa, creates disaster websites used when a hospital, school, university or government institution's main servers crash because of too much traffic or because of structural damage. When that happens, FastCommand's software can enable a "deflection," which allows the website's address to be redirected to a new server, where it can be updated with information by another computer or smart phone. FastCommand can also create other websites and issue mass text alerts.

So far, 75 schools, hospitals and public safety institutions in 20 states use FastCommand, according to founder Kevin Foote. Clients include the University of Arizona at Tucson, the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and the University of North Carolina system. While FastHealth hasn't sold FastCommand to any private businesses yet, Foote said that is a possibility.

Historically, warning alerts have been aired on television and radio, but in the age of the Internet and smartphones, a new approach is needed, he said.

"For instance, in a national emergency, (a government agency) could probably intercept all the websites owned by the main registrars across the country, " he said. "But it would be a national event. During a localized event, or regional event, you really couldn't scale that interception of websites. With our system, it allows you to do one website at a time, based on geography."

The company, which has additional offices in Washington, Ohio, Utah and on Capitol Hill, has a staff of around 25. Foote and Dr. Jim Andrews, the noted orthopedic surgeon operating out of Birmingham and Pensacola, decided to form the service after seeing how the community of Punta Gorda, Fla., relied on information from one of FastHealth's clients -- Charlotte Regional Medical Center -- when Hurricane Charley swept through in 2004.

Foote and Andrews wanted to do something to help keep communications up even when potential disruptions arise. Investors include Alabama businessmen, Foote said, such as Gary Smith, chief financial officer of Hibbett Sports Inc., and Robert Ross, chief executive of Mobile's Xante Corp.

In action

After Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman, was wounded and transferred to the University of Arizona's medical center in Tucson, the hospital's website was overloaded with traffic from journalists and political leaders seeking updates, along with the continuous traffic of patients and their families about their own treatment.

Kathy Knak, corporate officer for emergency preparedness at the University of Arizona Health Network, said the hospital had FastCommand active for the full two weeks Giffords was treated there, and its was using at least partial deflection with updates after that. Officials needed to keep the website running to continue providing information on a central site, she said.

"We flipped it on pretty quickly," she said. "I guess it was within three hours and then stayed that way."

At one point, they decided the onslaught of calls and website visits had dissipated and turned off FastCommand, but the website was so flooded it crashed within five minutes. They turned FastCommand back on.

FastCommand developers have three patents for the technology.

Hospitals in the Southeast also use FastCommand, including Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, Miss. Diane Gallagher, vice president of marketing and planning, said the hospital started using FastCommand after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She said the system is a useful way to provide accurate information for patients and area residents when severe weather comes through.

"After Katrina, there was so much information out," she said. "In fact there were some reports that our whole hospital was demolished, but that of course wasn't true. We were still operating."

Another example of how FastCommand is used came last April, when tornadoes hit Alabama and other areas in the Southeast. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, another client, had FastCommand set up a website for people across Alabama to report how they needed help, and volunteers from the church sent out assistance. The website was used as a welfare relief command center for other disasters such as the Joplin, Mo., tornado and Hurricane Irene on the East Coast.

On Monday evening, Foote said his staff were in the process of setting up a new relief website for Monday's tornado victims in Alabama.

The cost of FastCommand varies, Foote said. Monthly rates for subscribers usually range between $500 and $2,000 depending on the size of the institution using the service. There's also set-up fees between $7,000 and $10,000.

Annual revenue for FastCommand -- which has signed nearly $1 million in contracts -- accounts for about half of FastHealth's total income and the figure will continue to grow, Foote said. FastHealth also assists health care providers with their Internet platforms.

"We believe that this will be a bigger piece of the pie," he said.

Targeting agencies

If the technology is embraced by the federal government, it could bring between 200 and 300 more jobs to the company, he said.

Foote said he sees a need for his company's services with government agencies involved in national security and those that respond to natural disasters. The FastCommand websites can coordinate logistics provide news updates and other details when threats occur.

In November, the Federal Emergency Management Agency attempted a nationwide alert on its Emergency Alert System. However, multiple news organizations writing about the test noticed that the Internet and cell phones were two methods of communication not included in the test. It left a big gap, some said.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has already called for "an updated emergency warning system for the Twitter age."

Foote will meet with FEMA officials next week to show them how FastCommand might be of use to the agency in natural disasters and other crises. He's already met with officials at the Federal Communications Commission, which Foote said has expressed interest. He hopes to sign up the agencies as new clients.

"Just like our defense organizations are out there to protect Americans' interest, we believe here at home to protect Americans, the same sort of emphasis needs to be taking place," he said.

"Technology needs to serve a vital purpose in disasters like it does in defense needs."